Submersible reflecting body



April 1949; J. T. BEECHLYN 2,465,993

SUBMERSIBLE REFLEGTING BODY Filed May 22, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet l 34 45 4445 33 0 A 46 32 47 40 I l A 4/ F' IG. 2 4a IN VEN TOR.

J. T. BEECHLYN SUBMERSIBLE REFLECTING BODY Filed May 22, 1943- 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOHN T. BEECHLYN Patented Apr. 5, 1949 UNITED"res FFE

SUBMERSIBLE REFLECTING BODY Application May 22, 1943, Serial No. 488,3219 Claims. (01. s--25) The present invention relates to signalingapparatus and more particularly applies to apparatus to be used in aliquid medium such as the ocean but it may also apply in some forms toelectromagnetic signaling and radiation in an air medium.

In the application of the present invention in the art of submarinesignaling a reflecting body is used providing good reflecting qualitiesfor compressional waves, the body itself simulating to a given extentreflecting conditions of other reflecting bodies such as a submergedsubmarine or the hulls of surface vessels. The body itself, however, mayact as areflecting means simply to provide in the water mediumreflections from desired spots or movable through a desired distance.

In one form of the present invention the reflecting body may be attachedto a floating buoy and be temporarily or permanently positioned at agiven spot, or the buoy itself may be so constructed that it rises orlowers in a given course during its period of operation.

More particularly the present invention is adaptable to be released froma submarine for the purpose of producing echo reflections simulating thesubmarine itself so as to provide confusing indications as-to theposition, course or maneuvering of the submarine vessel.

Various advantages and purposes of the present invention will be morefully understood in connection with the description of the invention inthe specification below, showing various embodiments of the same whentaken in connection with the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a sectionalelevation of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 shows a detail in fragmentary section of the installation of thedevice in deck of a submarine;

Fig. 4 shows a section in detail of an element of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 shows a section on the line 5-5 of Fiat Fig. 1 on the thereflecting body or buoy 4 may be positioned. The reflecting body or buoy4 may be held in the well in any suitable manner which is desired. InFigs. 3, 4 and 5 the reflecting body 4 is held to the deck of the vesselby means of a locking bar 6 at the end of a shaft 1 which may be turnedby means of the handle 8 from within the vessel. The locking bar 6 restson a. plate 9 attached by means of a spider ID to the bottom of thebuoy. This plate 9 is provided with a slot ll through which the bar 6may pass when turned from the position shown in Fig. 5 across the slotto a position in alignment with the slot under which conditions thereflecting body or buoy d'will of its own accord by means of itsbuoyancy lift itself from the deck of the submarine. If it is desired toput the reflecting body into the water from a surface vessel, it willonly have to be lowered overboard with some weighted device to carry thereflecting body down to the depth desired. In such a case somespring-latch mechanism could be employed for releasing the weight sothat the buoy would act in the same manner as released from a submarine.This will be more fully discussed later.

In Fig. 1 the reflecting buoy or body 4 comprises two shells l2 and I3providing surfaces in the shape of frusta of cones which are faced withthe smaller diameters together providing thereby a figure of revolutionhaving as an element a V-shaped section formed by the outer shell wallsof the frusta l2 and I3.

In the center axis of the body there is positioned a. cylindrical shellM which is connected to the outer cone elements in the web l5 whichextends from the end of the frustum of the cone H to the cylinder 14 towhich it is joined by a weld IS. The chamber. formed between thecylindrical wall M, the conical wall I2 and the web i5 is sealed at thetop by the plate I] which is Welded to the cylinder l4 around thecontact edge 18 and to the open edge of the frustum l2 around theperiphery by welding as indicated at IS. The plate l1 may have anextending flange 20 covering over the welded periphery IS. The lowerconical frustum l3 has an open mouth 2| into which the water may freelyflow and it is also provided with vents 22 so that as the body sinks,any trapped air may escape through the vent openings so that thebuoyancy of the device is determined solely under known conditions. Theinside of the cylinder I4 is occupied by an evacuated vessel 23 whichmay be made of glass, plastic or other suitable material which may bereadily fractured and broken as desired. This vessel or bottle 23 ispreferably held in place against a yielding pad 25 which abuts against asmall plate 25 attached to the top plate ll of the device. An eye member26 may also be attached at the outside opposite the member 25 to serveas a means for suspending and supporting the whole device when desired.The purpose of making the bottle 23 breakable is that under certainconditions this bottle is broken and the space occupied by it is filledwith water which may flow up through the inside of the cylinder l4 andout through the top vents 21 as the device descends in the water. Theevacuated vessel 23 is held at its bottom in the shoulders 28 by asupporting collar 29 between which may be inserted a porous cushioningcollar pad 30 thus permitting water to flow through to the inside of thecylinder. The collar 29 is mounted by means of its cylindrical wall 3|inside the cylinder H in which it snugly fits and is locked by means ofstuds 32 which carry also the balancing weights 33. Suitable nuts 34 and35 securely position the studs 32 and lock the balancing weights 33 inthe desired position. The balancing weights are used to hold the devicein the same balance as indicated by the drawings of Fig. 1 withreference to the water as the device descends or rises in the water.

A mechanism is provided within the cylindrical wall 3| adjacent the neck36 at the end or the vessel 23 for breaking the end of the vessel oifand permitting the evacuated space within the vessel to be filled withwater. This action changes the buoyancy of the device from a positive toa negative buoyance, thus causing the device slowly to sink after thisaction has occurred where previous to the time of the action the motionof the device was in the upward direction. For this purpose there isprovided a disc 40 pivoted on a shaft ll mounted in the collar plate 29.

A helical spring 42 has one end fixed in the supporting plate 29 and theother end fixed in the disc 40. The disc in has a radial projectingportion 43 by means of which the disc is held with the spring in atension position by means of the projection 44 extending from the arm 45which is pivoted by the shaft 46 to the collar plate 23. At the end ofthe arm 45 there is provided a supporting link 41 whose motion iscontrolled by means of a bellows-pressure device 48 which expands withdecreasing pressure in the medium. A safety pin (9 in the wall 29extends in contact with the arm 45 preventing it from moving until thepin has been removed. For this purpose, the wire 43' may be fastened tothe deck of this vessel so that when the buoy is released the pin willbe removed.

The operation of this device is such that when the pressure decreasesbelow a certain set or desired amount, the arm 41 as viewed in Fig. 2,will be raised, taking the projection 44 out of engagement with themember 43, thus permitting the spring 42 to drive the disc Ill and itsprojection 43 against the neck 36, breaking it 011. The water will thenrush into and fill the vessel 23 thereby changing the buoyancy of thedevice from a positive to a negative value. Up to the moment that thisoccurs, the device will rise in the water but when this has occurred,the device will slowly begin to sink, eventually sinking to the bottomof'the ocean.

If, for instance, the buoy is released from a submarine at perhaps 400feet, it will ascend in the water under a positive buoyancy of. about 50pounds due to the evacuated bottle 23 at a rate of ascent which mayperhaps be established in the neighborhood of one foot per second andwould bring thebuoy within 50 feet of the surface in about six minutes.At or near this level the pressure bellows 48 will have expanded to sucha degree that the cam 40 will be released, breaking the neck of thebottle. The filling of the bottle may give a negative buoyancy of one ortwo pounds, causing the buoy to sink slowly at a rate of a few fectperminute, permitting it to serve as a potential sound-reflecting targetfor several hours or more.

The device indicated in Fig. 1 is given the form and shape shown inorder that by means of a comparatively small device, it might give areflection comparable to that of a submarine vessel. The angles betweenthe surfaces l2 and I3, are such that sound waves approaching from agiven direction laterally will be directively reflected outward insubstantially the same direction providing a comparatively largereflecting surface and maintaining the wave with substantially the sameform of wave front. Since the top cone I2 of the device is part of anair chamber, practically the total energy impinging upon it from theoutside will be reflected back. Since water may come on the inside ofthe wall l4, it is preferable to line the outside of the wall 13 with asound-reflecting skin or surface such as coprene or cork or some othermaterial having a great number of air cells or composed of materialswhich have radically different sound transmission characteristics fromthose of water. The velocity of sound in and density of the air ascompared to the corresponding characteristics of Water, provide markedreflecting qualities at the boundary surfaces between air and water.

In the structures shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the reflecting body 50 may beopen at both top and bottom, permitting water to surround both theinside and the outside of the conical frusta 5|, 5|. These may be of thesame outward contour as the elements l2 and [3 of Fig. 1 but are prefer--ably provided with a sound-reflecting lining or coating of coprene orother suitable material as indicated at 52, 52. The angle of the wallsin the radial section, as indicated in Fig. 6, may be 90 or thereaboutswhich is the theoretical angle for providing parallel reflectionirrespective of any moderate divergence from the horizontal plane. Thereflecting body 56 is supported by means of a tripod frame 53 which isbolted at 54 to central web 55 of the refiecting'body. The tripod frame53 may be supported by mcans'of a ring member 56 to which the cable 51is attached connecting to the bottom of the floating buoy 58. Thestructure shown in Fig. 6 may be used for harbor guides and navigationor landing locations for military -'purposes.

In Fig. 7 a reflecting body 60 is provided which is made up of aplurality of sections 6|, 52, 63, Bleach section being similar in shapeto the reflecting body 50 shown in Fig. 6. A ring member may be providedat the top of this reflecting b'ody whereby it is supported from a buoyand the body may also be provided with an eye member 66 at the bottom bymeans of which it may be anchored at a given point in the water. Asimilar eye member-may also be provided for the device in Fig. 6 toanchor this at a desired point.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A device having a sound reflecting body adapted to be immersed inwater normally having a positive buoyancy providing a. slow upwardmotion in the water, means actuated when the body has reached a desireddistance from the surface for admitting water to a portion thereof tochange the device from a positive to a negative buoyancy, said negativebuoyancy being sufficiently small so that the device will sink slowlythereafter.

2. A device adapted to be immersed in water having a sound-reflectingbody comprising two conical frusta with the small ends abutting eachother providing a reflecting surface of revolution having a V-shapedform, said body normally having a positive buoyancy providin a slowupward motion in the water, means actuated when the body has reached adesired distance from the surface for admitting water to a portionthereof to change the body to a negative buoyancy, said negativebuoyancy being sumciently small so that the device will sinkslowlythereafter.

3. A device having a sound-reflecting body for submersion in water,means contained within the body providing a variable buoyancy forcausing the device to remain near the surface of the water, said bodyhaving a surface of revolution conforming to the rotation of a V-shapedelement about an axis perpendicular to the bisector of the angle withthe vertex and spaced away from the vertex outside of the V.

4. A device having a sound-reflecting body for submersion in water,means contained within the body providing a variable buoyancy forcausing the device to remain near the surface of the water, said bodyhaving a surface of revolution conforming to the rotation of a V-shapedelement about an axis perpendicular to the bisector of the angle withthe vertex and spaced away from the vertex outside of the V, said Vhaving an angle substantially of 90.

5. A device adapted to be used in water having the sound-reflecting bodyhaving a surface of revolution conforming to the rotation of a V- shapedelement about an axis perpendicular to the bisector of the angle withthe vertex and spaced away from the vertex outside of the V, said bodyhaving closed-ofi portions positioned symmetrically within the same fromwhich the water is excluded, a centrally located chamber symmetricallypositioned with said body having an evacuated vessel therein, meansprovided at one end of the chamber for permitting said vessel to befilled with water when the device has travelled upward to a region ofdesired pressure whereby the buoyancy of the device is changed from apositive to a negative value, said negative buoyancy being sumcientlysmall so that the de vice will sink slowly thereafter.

-6. A device having a sound-reflecting body in water normally having apositive buoyancy providing a slow upward motion in the water, meansactuated when the body has reached a desired distance from the surfacefor admitting water to a portion thereof to change the device from apositive to a negative buoyancy, said means comprising an evacuatedvessel positioned within the body having a projecting neck, means havingan impact clement tensioned against the action of the spring positionedadiacent the neck of said vessel and means normally holding said impactelement in tension and adapted to be released when the pressure in thesurrounding water has decreased to the desired magnitude, and meansresponsive to the pressure in the surrounding water for releasing saidholding means whereby the impact element will fracture the neck of saidvessel and permit water to enter therein changing the buoyancy.

7. A device adapted to be used in water having a sound-reflecting bodycomprising a reflecting wall formed as a surface of revolution in whichthe element of the surface is in the shape of a V positioned outward ofthe axis of revolution, said body being thereby substantiallysymmetrically formed about said axis, an air-sealed chamber formed withsaid surface of revolution forming in part, at least, the outer wallthereof providing a sound-reflecting body comprising said" outer walland the air sealed chamber and means provided on the surface of the restof the reflecting wall formed as a surface of revolution for reflectingthe sound waves impinging therein.

8. A device having a sound-reflecting body adapted to be immersed inwater, said reflecting body comprising a surface of revolution whoseelement is in the form of an outwardly opening V rotated about an axisin an extension of the plane of the V, an air-sealed chamber immediatelyadjacent the inside of a portion of the sound-reflecting surfacesymmetrically positioned with the axis of revolution permanently sealedfrom the water, a cylindrical chamber surrounding the axis of revolutionand concentric therewith, said chamber having at least a portion thereofevacuated and means actuated when the device has reached the desireddistance from the surface for admitting water to said cylindricalchamber, said actuation changing the device from a positive to anegative buoyancy, said device beingso proportioned in volume and weightand water resistance that with the change in buoyancy it will sinkslowly in the water.

9. A device providing a sound-reflecting body adapted to be immersed inwater normally having a positive buoyancy providing a slow upward motionin the water, means attaching the same to the deck of a submarine, meansfor releasing the same from within the vessel when desired and meansoperated upon the release of the device for releasing the actuatingmechanism, said actuating mechanism comprising an impact member, meansoperated to release the impact member when the device has reached adesired distance from the surface and means operated by the release ofthe impact member for changing the device from a positive to a negativebuoyancy whereby the device will slowly sink in the water.

JOHN T. BEECHLYN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

} UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Saeder Oct. 31, 1938

